Top 20 emerging jobs of 2017, according to LinkedIn

The results of LinkedIn's ranking of 2017's fastest-growing jobs in America might not surprise you.

At a time when companies and colleges alike are demanding students with strong technical abilities, like coding and data analysis, the top two jobs in LinkedIn's list rely heavily on these skills. Nearly every other job in the top 10 falls into the technology and engineering fields—though the next 10 jobs after that include a few that might surprise you.

According to LinkedIn, here are the top 20 emerging jobs of 2017:

Machine learning engineer

Data scientist

Sales development representative

Customer success manager

Big data developer

Full stack engineer

Utility developer

Director of data science

Brand partner

Full stack developer

Personal loan consultant

Brand activation manager

Head of partnerships

Barre instructor

Licensed realtor

Guest experience associate

Assurance staff

Marketing content manager

Site reliability engineer

Head of customer experience

To create the list, LinkedIn researchers analyzed the site's data to compare the frequency of job titles held in 2017 to the frequency of titles held in 2012. The top 20 jobs list reflects the roles that saw the highest growth in title frequency since 2012.

As you might have expected, STEM positions stole the show. But not all of the emerging roles require a strong technical skill set, LinkedIn notes.

Many jobs that ranked No. 11 through No. 20 are non-STEM positions that reflect broader economic and societal trends, Amy Wang reports for Quartz. For example, the current obsession with health and wellness is driving demand for barre instructors, and the rebounding real estate market explains the rise in licensed realtors, she writes.

Among all the emerging jobs, the most commonly held skills are non-technical skills like management, communication, and marketing. Similarly, the fastest-growing skills across these high-growth professions include digital skills, like social media and Microsoft Office, the report notes.

Traditional soft skills underpin all of 2017's high-growth roles and will be critical for every professional's future success, says a LinkedIn spokesperson.

And while LinkedIn's list highlights the in-demand roles of right now, it's important to remember that some of these jobs may not exist in the future, Wang writes. Technological innovation remains posed to disrupt the nature of work as we know it. By 2030, up to 70 million U.S. workers will need to learn new skills or change industries, according to a study by McKinsey & Company.

LinkedIn's emerging jobs offer good choices for recent college graduates and young professionals, but workers must focus on "future-proofing" their skills, Wang writes. Whatever role they hold today, workers must continue to build adaptable skills for the future, she argues (Wang, Quartz, 12/8; LinkedIn report, accessed 12/8).

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